30 mink, 21 coon, 13 rats. slow day.

I guess I had some walk by too.... Full stomachs ?

jim,,yeah theyre fulla corn and dont need to search for food. they were the fattest coon ive ever seen for early in the season. i was told about an unbelievable number of coons hitting a deer feeder down south. the guys set a large number of grizzs around it, with different baits, and never caught a single coon. they were totally tuned in to the corn only and wouldnt respond to anything else. im sure its the same here with all the corn still in the fields. watch the weather,,,dont get froze in this year.

Way to pound em, Tim! What # are you trying to hit?
I pulled my last 15 stops yesterday and was happy to end up with 8 mink and 1 coon. 110 mink for the year and I'm very happy but feel like I'm going through withdrawls! Already making plans for next and have to set my gaol a little higher.

good job tim! thats a nice catch for sure. i didnt set a goal for this year, as my son and i trapped rats the whole first week, and got about 550. killed my first mink on nov. 11th, same with the coon. back in the day, i always figured i wanted 125 mink the first week, 100 the second, and 75 the third, for a total catch of 300. i have well over 300 now, so im probably about on-track with that. im making plans too, as its gonna be time to replace some of my 20+ year old dukes. for the price, and the time invested, im probably better off to buy a bunch of new ones and start fresh rather than disassemble and re-spring, etc. have you ever used the pinch pan replacement pans on duke 1 1/2s?

Weather??? I live 40 miles from Canadien border.. No snow all rain and 50 degrees.. We had 20 days of rain.. You couldnt keep a pocket working to save your life.. Guy better check his marten sets once a day or the fur will taint quick.. I caught a 52 pound yote left him hang one day and he started to green belly quick..

25 mink, 7 rats and 5 coon from 74 traps. short line but this was a first run on these traps. always good to get in some new sets.

Tim, never tried the replacement pans but run at least half of my sets with the real ones....love em! I don't know why the replacement ones wouldn't do a good job. I'm all done with my water stuff except for some beaver that need fixing and now it's time for the cat and fisher sets! Keep pounding em out, it's still hard for me to drive past a good creek without thinking I could catch another one.

This weather sucks doesnt it walner.

Tim S that first week was a good one to miss teh way the weather worked out.

I moved into the litchfield area right before the rain started.

Got there dry as a bone, worked a couple days and it was liek someone turned the spigot on. It was a miserable couple three weeks there for awhile. Couldnt even keep the family jewels dry there for a time.

tim,,the old pinch pans were the best mink trap in my opinion, but the coon liked to rip the pans off. i dont think it could get any better than a bolt on pinch pan. good luck with the cats and fisher. steven,,,yeah we stayed in the rat slough where the water wouldnt fluctuate, and let the other guys fight the water levels for those cheap first week mink. the other folks missed alot of mink too, as the water was constantly dropping and exposing their traps. theres old sets most everywhere i go now. thats ok,,i'll take the leftovers.

Fossil, nice to see you posting again, and thanks for the updates.

pulled one line today with 21 mink, 5 coon and a few rats. this was the 3rd check on these sets. looks like the temps are gonna bottom-out by mid week, and im not gonna get caught in the ice with a couple hundred traps to chop out. iowaminker,,,did you get out much this year?

you guys in minn must run a ton of traps for mink i just put my sets out yesterday and havent done to well but only 35 sets i still love to try figuring those boogers out though

legacy,,,its easy to run a decent number of traps in this area because of the road systems here. we have better access to the water than alot of other areas of the country. usually a road every mile, like a checkerboard.

I see " The Big Kahuna " has changed his tune. " a un-baited pocket Is a blind set" and " a pocket set will out shine a blind ".........

Has he started a new Post yet just to call me 2stupid ?

Tim, good to see your pullin some coon and mink. how many coon you up to?

nick,,,its all coming to an end by mid week. about 12 degrees i hear. pulled one line yesterday, and another tomorrow. thatll leave a few rat sets and funnel traps to play around with the rest of the week. we had high water here the first week or ten days and that hurt the people after the mink. alot of mink were missed because of the traps being exposed when the water dropped. we trapped rats the first week and didnt kill a mink til the 11th day of season. water was pretty stable by then, and i went in after the ones the others had missed. glad you got out after them for awhile, and hope you get back out again on your next break from school. keep us posted.

a blind set is a trap placed where you predict the mink will run, with no attractant to draw it in. an unbaited pocket uses both sight and odor attraction. the sight and smell of fresh digging is greatly attractive to mink, therefore its not a blind set.

blakley,,,dont get caught in the freeze this week with all those grizz traps stuck in the mud. nothing worse than having to pull those things after a bad freeze.

Tim : I too pulled one line yesterday and will pull the last Tues ........Im thinking muskrats now ... As soon as I can walk on the Ice.
Jim

Who are you trying to fool. As skinny as you are you could get out on 1/4"! lol

michael